Fabulous book, especially the unforgettable Chapter One, where life at B&Bs hasn't changed that much! A good starter book for the new Bryson reader.

BOOKRING MEMBERS

1. UK?
2. kislany - Cyprus
3. weeblet - USA
4. hbrogan - US (prefers US)
5. kelwood - USA
6. grove3d - USA
8. sternschuppe28 - Germany
9. ?
(Please PM when you get to the end)

and Ill see if I can get some more members

Release planned for Thursday, August 12, 2004 at not decided where! in Tonbridge, England United Kingdom.

I picked it up at edinburgh meetup last night. I think this is not the right copy of this book. Its definately not part of a bookring or anything.
or why has nobody who has had this since 2004 bothered to journal it?

The first few chapters I loved, then I got really annoyed at him thinking everything is either absolutely amazing or completely rubbish. Now i'm sort of inbetween.
I liked the bits best where he talks about his life (like the bit about the printers strike at the times or the work in the local newspaper office). where he talks about the British people it gets a bit wobbly. while some of the things he talks about (like the queuing and talking about the weather) are true, he seems to be completely stuck in and oldfashioned stereotype of english gentility. Of course there are people like that, but are they still representative of what Britons are like now?
As a foreigner myself there are two things i have noticed that are particular to Brits.
the first is the drinking culture. and i dont mean the binge drinking, throwing up in the street and shagging a stranger drinking culture but just the fact that everyone drinks to get drunk. And im not even sure thats such a bad thing. At home everyone drinks but its if not completely unacceptable, at least embarrassing to be drunk. At least in the UK its all out in the open and people acknowledge that being drunk is actually fun in itself.
The other thing I always notice here is how people are so concerned with fashion. I hardly know anyone back home who even has hair straighteners, and here so many people straighten their hair every single day! and get dressed up for going out and spend a fortune on clothes that theyre gonna wear once. And everyone has haircuts! you know, ones that need trimmed every six weeks. and dont get me started on all the orange people (there are three tanning studios on my street alone, whats that all about? surely people know the risk of skin cancer). So much time and energy goes into looking good, often with dubious results, its amazing
oh dear, this is turned into a bit of a rant. never mind...

RELEASE NOTES: